Town Square

Palo Alto residents alerted about invasive mosquito

Original post made
on Sep 10, 2013

Two weeks after the discovery of a yellow-fever mosquito in Menlo Park, the Santa Clara County Vector Control District is asking north Palo Alto residents and their gardeners to take steps to prevent the insect from breeding.

Posted by cindy mason
a resident of Duveneck/St. Francis
on Sep 10, 2013 at 9:32 am

I was glad to see this article, thank you. Do you think it is a good idea to also cover the fact we woke up this morning with sore throats and could not see the sky due to smoke from Mt. Diablo? Yesterday a friend and I drove up to the hill behind campus and could see pink/tan smoke ringing the valley.

I noticed there is not a Spare the Air Day. Although the Bay Area Air Quality has a smoke advisory in effect, suggesting we keep windows/doors closed and possibly move to a better place if we are elderly or have sensitive lungs/immune.

We have in our society, what my boss from UC Berkeley calls, A Crisis of UnderCoordination. If I can wake up and not see the sky
due to smoke but the EPA monitors say the sky is fine, and therefore all the organizations are unable to notify people... ??? Hmmm.

Another aspect of the crisis is that many organizations rely on the internet for such notices, however, most of the elderly and people who would need this information the most, are watching television, not the internet... ? Go figure.

Posted by Vector Control
a resident of Midtown
on Sep 11, 2013 at 11:27 am

Seems to me I read that there has been no vector control or mosquito abatement provided by the city for at least four years. As a result, we have been u able to use our patio this summer due to rampant mosquitoes. If any of us are hospitalized with Yellow Fever, can we bill the city?

Posted by Vector is Countywide
a resident of Old Palo Alto
on Feb 16, 2015 at 7:41 am

Each county in California has a vector control district. The governing board varies. In Santa Clara County, it is the County Board of Supervisors. Of course, politicians generally are not sufficiently informed to question career bureaucrats, but at least you can blame elected officials when Vector does too little or sprays the wrong toxins on you, your children and your pets.